As a developer I like the sorting algorithms, but they’re a bit nerdy and I suspect >95% of the users don’t see them or don’t care too much about them. Even if people do see and use them they might not know what is best and they’ll probably try different ones at random.
The collections are also a great idea, but one of the downsides to them is that if I for example have a grant I’m basically begging the popular folks to include my grant in their collection. You’ll be highly dependent on your existing social networking skills, and as a developer that is not to great at pitching himself it’s extremely difficult to get a proper footing.
This is also why I started out with Grandiose, where my goal is to make finding grants fun without relying too much on social networking skills or possible biased algorithms. Instead, I’d prefer to explore grants while doing fun little games that don’t rely on different ordering or networking.
I’m currently taking a small break playing World of Warcraft, and this game also makes the most mundane and borings tasks fun. With Grandiose I aim to do the same, by making exploration fun and non-biased without the user having to think about anything at all. I’ve started out with a Tinder like system of swiping and aim to re-implement collections as I think there’s much more to them than simply being shared with others. Other things we could try to ‘gamify’ exploration is by introducing mini-games such as memory or other games that allow grants the opportunity to be seen without some kind of ranking or sorting algorithm. Another venture would be multiplayer kind of games with leaderboards, but we’ll have to be wary that it doesn’t simply become a popularity contest again but with extra steps.